


Six Souls

by Nikasha



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Child Death, Gen, Minor Violence, OC is a canon minor character, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-12
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5890267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikasha/pseuds/Nikasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We need seven souls before our king, King Asgore Dreemur, can become a god.<br/>We already have six.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ruins

You wander through the woods on Mt. Ebott, narrating your adventures to yourself under your breath. As your toe catches on a root, you stumble, then swing around to point a toy pistol at it, shouting, “It’s a snake! Be careful!”  
  
You make shooting noises. The root is defeated.  
  
You pretend to blow smoke off the gun, then slide it back into the fancy holster at your hip. You’re very proud of your gun, as well as your cowboy hat, which you take a moment to adjust. It may have gotten mussed in the action.  
  
Satisfied you are picture-perfect, you continue forward. You hear voices calling your name in the distance, but ignore them. You’ll go back to Mom once you’re done playing.  
  
The second root takes you as much by surprise as the first did. But this time when you stumble forward, there’s no flat ground. Your stomach drops as the steady surface falls beneath your weight.  
  
You hear yourself screaming, “MOM!”

\----  


You slowly blink your eyes open, gaze cloudy. You squint up at the patch of blue sky way above your head, confused by it. You sit up and rub at your eyes, glancing around. It’s dark, and the only thing you can really see is a cluster of golden flowers that were crushed when your body fell onto them. You pat their petals with a frown. “Thank you,” you murmur to them and stand.  
  
You promptly fall back onto your rear-end.  
  
Groaning, you clutch at your head. It pounds, and the rest of your body sharply protests at being abused. You sniffle and glance around nervously, but you need to continue forward. If you stay here, something could get you.  
  
You look down at the flowers, and your heart swells with sadness. You carefully dig up one of the less-crushed flowers and stick it in your hat. It can come along for your adventures. You stand and shakily move down the dark corridor.  
  
Pausing, you take your gun out of its holster and hold it out in front of you, ready to aim and fire at a moment’s notice. It may only contain pellets, but they were better than nothing.  
  
You see an ornate door. Taking a deep breath, you cautiously walk through it. On the other side is another spotlight from an opening to the sky above. However, there is only one golden flower this time.  
  
“Howdy! I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower!”  
  
And it talks.  
  
Filled with awe, you walk towards it, ignoring the rest of its speech. Its smile turns strained.  
  
“Listen, buddy, I need you to—“  
  
“How do you know my name?” you interrupt. Well, it’s not REALLY your name, but everyone calls you by it, so it might as well be.  
  
Flowey the flower seems taken aback. “Buddy? Ah, I didn’t. Never mind, listen!”  
  
Suddenly you begin to glow. You stagger back slightly in shock as a heart appears in front of your chest. Stunned, you try to touch it, but your hand phases right through.  
  
“See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!”  
  
“What does cul-min-a-tion mean?” you ask curiously.  
  
Flowey’s smile is strained again. “Never mind that. You’re making me cranky, so I’m going to make this quick. You need to gain LV, which stands for LOVE. To gain LOVE, you need to collect these little white…” The flower hesitates. “…friendliness pellets! Yeah! Anyway, you want some LOVE, don’tcha?”  
  
“Actually—“  
  
“Of course you do!”  
  
Little white pellets surround you. You’re beginning to get a bad feeling about this.  
  
“Are you ready? Move around, get as many as you can!”  
  
Still feeling dubious, but nonetheless prepared to obey, you step forward into one of the white pellets.  
  
And cry out in pain.  
  
“YoU iDiOt.”  
  
You cringe away from his distorted grin. His voice is warped and echoes, his expression sinister. You’ve never been so scared of a flower.  
  
“In ThIs WoRlD, iT’s KiLl Or Be KiLlEd.”  
  
He begins cackling as you stumble back, bringing up your pistol to fire at him—  
  
Before you could fire a pellet, a fireball comes flying in from the side and knocks Flowey to the ground as he yelps. He hastily vanishes under the earth before he can get hit again.  
  
You hesitate then turn to see a new person coming up. Or rather, a goat-person. She has creamy white fur, a matronly smile, and a clasp to her paws that reminds you of a teacher.  
  
“Oh, you poor thing! Did that monster hurt you? Here, let me heal you…”  
  
She holds a hand out to you and you flinch, but remain still. You feel your aches and pains from both the fall and the attack by Flowey flow away like water. You look down at your body in amazement. Then you look up at the goat-person with awe. “Thank you, ma’am.”  
  
She beams, and it fills you with a warm glow. “My name is Toriel. I’m the caretaker of the Ruins. I come through here every now and then to see if anyone has fallen.”  
  
You frown, but before you can question her, Toriel turns and begins to walk away. “Come, my child! Let us get you home so you can rest.”  
  
Rest sounds like a great idea.

\----  


You quickly grow impatient with Toriel’s coddling, leaving the room after waiting only a couple fidgety seconds to go explore. The monsters shock you at first, but after you realize talking to them tends to make them much more friendly than you were expecting, the Ruins aren’t as scary. You still occasionally lash out with your pistol whenever you feel threatened, which they don’t appreciate, but you do your best to avoid killing anyone.  
  
You’re confused when you enter the small side room and find a toy knife. It seems rather dangerous, and you quickly put it back. Your pistol feels better, anyway.  
  
You run back into Toriel. She’s displeased with you for a moment for wandering by yourself, but she quickly returns to her matronly demeanor and invites you into a quaint home. While she finishes with the Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie, you spend a large amount of time exploring the house and trying to figure out the other pairs of kids’ shoes in your temporary room. They make you nervous. As you’re investigating the comfort of the bed, you doze off.  
You awake to the warm smell of pie and spices. You sit on the edge of the bed and stretch with a yawn, sniffing at the aroma. You notice your hat and pistol are gone and have a moment of panic before discovering them on the nightstand.  
  
You collect the slice of pie then head back towards the kitchen. As you pass the stairs, you turn towards them, curiosity piqued.  
  
The dark corridor makes you nervous, but feels almost anticipatory as well. Something is down here, something big. You’re incredibly startled when Toriel suddenly appears behind you, catching you by the hand and directing you back upstairs.  
  
Frowning in consternation, you stand at the top of the stairs, tapping your foot. There’s something about that place she doesn’t want you to know. Maybe it’s where the rest of the kids are? Trapping children doesn’t seem like something she would do, however.  
  
You decide to ask.  
  
When you stand in front of the motherly figure whom smiles patiently down at you, your courage fails. You stammer and change your question.  
“How do I go home?”  
  
Her smile falls. “Wait here. There’s something I need to do.”  
  
You try to follow her, but she’s unnaturally quick. After losing track, you check her room and the garden, but finding nothing, you decide to try downstairs.  
  
You find her there, with her back to you.  
  
“Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground.” She turns and looks at you with concern. “You should stay here, Buddy. I can take care of you. We can be happy!”  
  
You are reminded of a joke written in her diary, the ink still almost fresh. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Toriel. I can’t stay. I have to get home. My mom is gonna be worried about me.”  
  
Her eyebrows furrow, giving her a sterner look. “If you leave, you will die. All the others before you have. They come. They leave. They die. Always.”  
You suppress a shiver. “I have to go.”  
  
She looks at you with sadness, but your confidence seems to win her over. She smiles and kneels down to hug you tightly, filling you with warmth and love. True love, not Flowey’s lie.  
  
“I’ll come back to see you,” you promise, pulling away to smile at her.  
  
She smiles back, but her eyes are misty. “I’ll hold you to it.” She stands and turns so you can pass.  
  
You take the flower out of your hat and hand it to her. She smiles weakly and holds it delicately in her large palms for a moment before handing it back. “Keep it safe.”  
  
You walk up to the door at the end of the hall and look it over. It’s as ornate as the rest of the doors you’ve seen, but this feels much more powerful. You turn to look at Toriel over your shoulder.  
  
Her eyes are full of tears, and she’s holding one large paw to her mouth. She smiles and waves at you and you smile in return encouragingly before turning back and pushing through the door.  
  
Her faith fills you with JUSTICE.

\----  


CONTINUE?


	2. Snowdin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have less pre-written than I thought. Oh well that shouldn't be too big of a problem.  
> This story is short, only about six or seven chapters, fyi.  
> Beta'd by moonybadger.
> 
> Enjoy~

On the other side of the door, you freeze in horror and shudder. It’s cold, and you hunch your shoulders slightly against the temperature change. You go to close the door behind you, but it’s already shut. Shrugging, you turn forward and begin to walk.  
  
The crunching of the snow under your feet amuses you, and you begin to step out a rhythm, humming. You come upon a fence that has bars spaced wide apart. Confused, you look at them. Maybe a sort of ornamental overhang? But it was very shabby. You shrug to yourself and move through it.  
  
You hear snoring.  
  
You wander towards the sound, freezing when you spot a sentry station. Seated behind the counter is a short, compact skeleton in a blue jacket. He’s sleeping, his eyesockets closed like eyelids.  
  
You hesitantly knock on the counter. “’Scuse me? Sir?”  
  
The skeleton wakes with a small snort. For a brief second, you see a flash of blue in his eyes. But when they focus on you, they’re just little white lights.  
  
The lights in his eyes go out. “H u m a n,” the skeleton says in a quiet, deadly voice.  
  
You take a step back, intimidated. “Uh, I was hoping…you could tell me how to get back to the surface? Sir?”  
  
You feel like he’s studying you, feel his gaze go to the golden flower stuck in your hat. Then he relaxes, the tension draining out of his body, and the lights come back on in his eyes. He closes one, watching you lazily. “i might be able to. why should I help you, human?” His voice is suddenly much smoother, still rattley like bones clattering, but not nearly as dark. There’s an edge to his words like each one is a joke.  
  
“Buddy,” you respond automatically. “My name’s Buddy.”  
  
The skeleton’s smile stretches slightly. “i’m sans, sans the skeleton. you’ve got an awesome name, buddy.” He yawns, putting a hand over his mouth before slipping it back into his pocket. “i’m actually supposed to be keeping an eye out for humans. but i don’t really care. my bro, on the other hand, he’s pretty interested in catching humans. wants to be part of the royal guard.” He eyes you. “if you don’t head out now, you’ll totally be _boned._ ”  
  
You stare at him. He stares back, grin wide. “Did you just--?”  
  
“maybe.”  
  
You stare at him more. “Your eye turned blue a minute ago.”  
  
“did it turn _icy_ blue?”  
  
Your mouth twitches. Sans continues to watch you.  
  
You cough. “ _Snow,_ it didn’t.”  
  
Sans’s grin stretches again, and he relaxes even further. You get the feeling you just earned some sort of approval, even though your joke was on the poor end of an already bad spectrum. “alright, buddy. to get back to the surface, you need to go to the king’s castle. king asgore’s a real cool guy, but it’s gonna be a hassle getting back home.” He sighed through his teeth. “i’m not gonna lie to you, kid, he’s probably gonna try to kill you. You really might as well go back where you came from, and—“  
  
“My parents are waiting for me on the surface,” you interrupt firmly. Your fingers tighten on your pistol’s handle. “I have to go home.”  
  
Sans appraises you again. Then he shrugs. “it’s none of my business. Head that way…” He waves vaguely east with a bony hand. “you’ll eventually reach asgore’s castle. But hey, listen…” He’s suddenly up in your face, eyes dark and grin monstrous. You feel a chill run down your spine. “Mess with my bro, and you won’t even make it to Asgore. W e c l e a r ?”  
  
You swallow hard and nod. “Crystal.”  
  
Just like that, he’s back behind the sentry station, yawning like he had been lounging there the whole time. “good. you’ll know him if you see him. good luck, buddy.”  
  
You slowly begin to walk away, glancing back over your shoulder once. The interaction with Sans had left you baffled, but intrigued. The skeleton was more than he seemed, you could sense it.  
  
He reminds you of your older brother.  
  
Pushing that thought aside, you look forward and keep moving.

  
  


You hate monsters.  
  
Not because they’re scary or they hurt you, which they occasionally do, but because they’re everywhere. You can’t take ten steps without getting ambushed. You feel like some sort of bizarre monster alert went out: Hey, watch out for the human in the cowboy hat! They’re too awesome for words!  
  
Or something like that.  
  
You notice a bunch of strange areas that you think might be large-scale puzzles. You only see the owner of the puzzles once, and you stay well clear of him; Sans’s warning echoes in your mind. You wish you could have met the puzzle brother, though. From what you could hear—and you could hear his piercing voice quite well—he seemed friendly and fun to play with. However, you didn’t want to aggravate Sans. You kept to yourself.  
  
Snowdin is a quaint little town of tranquility. The townsfolk are kind. They don’t seem to recognize you as a human, and you feel no need to correct them. You stay a few minutes in the hotel to replenish your energy, then keep moving. You have to get home before your parents begin to worry.  
  
You are chatting with a cute little monster kid when you learn about Undyne for the first time.  
  
She sounds cool, you have to admit. Clad in armor, armed with a glowing magical spear, covered in scars, the voice of a battle-worn general, and a history with the king: she sounds like someone you could use on your side. Unfortunately, monster kid also feels the compulsion to inform you that she’s hunting down humans like deer.  
  
You don’t think you’d actually like her very much.  
  
Waterfall is, unsurprisingly, very wet, reaching from marshes and swamps, to raining and rivers. When you ask a local about the origin of the water, they shrug. Monsters seem very calm, in your opinion, very content with their lot in life. Then again, it may just be the monsters you’ve met.  
  
Thinking on your classes and the layout of the cave systems, you decide the rivers and marshes are simply run-off from above rain; plenty of caves become flooded from rain, so it’s possible that’s where the trickle comes from. Nonetheless, you’re impressed by the variety of ecosystems and simulated weather patterns you had encountered. The fall-like weather of the Ruins, the icy cold of Snowdin, and now the wet rains of Waterfall. If it weren’t for the lack of sun and the constant niggling worry about your parents, you might enjoy exploring the Underworld.  
  
You run into Sans twice more. Once, he pranks you with a telescope that has a tinted lens. Scrubbing the paint off of your eye, you notice his smile is slightly fixed. You get the feeling he’s played this joke on several people before and wonder why he continues to play it. The second time, he simply invites you to hang out with him and enjoy the “stars,” which are actually small crystals lodged in the roof of the cave.  
  
You both lay on your backs, staring up at the shimmering crystals. You had heard about the ideas of wishing on these crystals instead of stars, and it makes you sad. It fills you with a sense of justice for the monsters who have never seen the stars.  
  
“Do you wish for anything?” you ask Sans out of curiosity.  
  
He’s quiet for a long time. “a happy ending,” is simply his answer, and you don’t press. You understand that he wouldn’t explain. “what about you, buddy?”  
  
You wonder. “I wish for a happy ending, too,” you murmur.  
  
One of the crystals seems to glow brighter. You hear a whisper behind you, echoing your words. Shocked, you turn and find the pale blue petals of an Echo Flower.  
  
“oh,” Sans chuckles. “my bad, i didn’t realize that was there.”  
  
You smile, then stand and dust off your jeans before checking the pellets left in your gun. You’re beginning to run low, and it worries you. “I need to keep moving. Thanks, Sans.”  
  
He remains lying on the floor, staring up at the crystals. “no problem, buddy. keep safe, alright?”  
  
You eye him, surprised by this. Despite drawing you aside for a couple different reasons, you didn’t get the feeling whether Sans did or didn’t like you. His concern catches you off-guard, but you feel a glimmer of appreciation. “I’ll do my best,” you reply.  
  
Sans grunts noncommittally and turns his head to look at you. The lights in his eyes are oddly piercing.  
  
You hesitate. “Sans, I need to ask you a question.”  
  
“shoot, little guy,” Sans answers, sitting up and dusting off his back.  
  
“Have you ever met another human coming through here?”  
  
Sans freezes. His eye flashes again, yellow this time. He slowly lowers his hands into his lap, staring at them. “why do you ask?”  
  
“Toriel had stuff from other kids. Kids like me. She acted like she’d seen humans before. She acted like they left and never came back.”  
  
“toriel? i don’t know her.” He sighs. “but yeah, i’ve seen other humans come through here.” His hands curl into fists. “i stay away. your kind don’t last long down here. asgore makes sure of it.” He smiled at you wryly. “you caught me _napping._ ”  
  
You feel a chill in your soul. “They all died?”  
  
Sans doesn’t look at you. “You should go back to Toriel. You’re just going to get killed.” He looks up at you with hollow, black eyes. “You don’t deserve that.”  
  
You give him a weak smile. “Thanks, Sans. But I have to do this. I have to go home.” You pause. “I have to try.”  
  
The white lights come back into Sans’s eyes and he stands. He stretches, bones creaking, then slings an arm around your shoulders. “welp. if i can’t convince you, i can only send you off with well wishes. be careful, kid. i’d like to see you again someday. i bet you’ll miss me a skele _ton._ ”  
  
You laugh and shove him away. His friendship fills you with JUSTICE.  
  
It’s the last time you see Sans.  
  
\----   
CONTINUE?

**Author's Note:**

> This story, as far as I have right now, is only about the sixth soul. If there's more interest, I may add the others in reverse order.  
> I do have most of this story already written up and completely planned out, so hopefully updates won't be too irregular.  
> Sorry about the summarization in this chapter; I wanted to get through this part, because it's largely similar to the original storyline. From here on, it'll start to diverge!


End file.
